Easy on the ISO and hold the flash please.

centralcacyclistJanuary 27, 2013

Here is an article about the backlash against photographing one's own meals in restaurants.

This is something I have done rarely. One time that comes to mind is during my meet-up with Lee, Helene, and Lee's friend when we had a lovely lunch in Berkeley together. It was not a distraction to other diners as we ate during a lull. I certainly can not imagine leaping onto my chair to have done so. I also snapped Alice with her iPhone not long ago while she sipped the best capuchino in town (according to Alice). But we were outside the cafe and all alone at a sidewalk table.

It doesn't seem to be a trend where I live but this is not a food mecca. I have never witnessed someone conspicuously snapping a photo of their meal. But it appears to be annoying common other places.

I am not a fan... it is one thing to take photos of friends/family when you are out enjoying an experience, but to cause a scene in a restaurant is really in bad form IMHO. I don't care if it is Momofuko or the Mom & Pop diner around the corner, keep your butt in your chair and no flash photography please!

I don't like it. We have a lot of photo snapping including flashes at Mystic Pizza. People will be hooting/hollering, etc. (big smile, say "cheese", etc.), pushing up against other diners' chairs while they try to get a position under one of the movie pictures that line the walls. It's VERY annoying. They also block traffic outside on Main St. by standing in the middle of the road trying to get their picture taken under the "Mystic Pizza, A Little Slice of Heaven" sign no matter the 300 cars around them. It's rude and inconsiderate. They are only thinking of themselves and getting that picture of their Mystic Pizza. It wouldn't be so bad if there were only half a dozen of them...but there aren't. They number in the hundreds on a weekend day.

I've done it and I've seen others do it. I never use a flash so I'm not sure that anyone would have even noticed. And even if they did, I'm not sure how taking a picture of a plate of food is annoying. It doesn't annoy me when people in restaurants want group photos taken and that is more disruptive. Heck I've even been handed a camera and asked to take a photo of the group.

Tricia, I would think that Mystic Pizza is a tourist attraction so I would expect that type of activity.

It is rude in a restaurant to other diners and inconsiderate at home to family and guests. I refuse to stop and shoot a photo while the meal I have cooked gets cool. I like my meal hot and my attention on family and freinds, not a show off photo for others.

I do appreciate a photo in an instructional manner for a new techinque or a recipe but it is not required. I can figure it out without one.

Ann T, I agree, if a place is a tourist attraction, they have to expect that tourists are going to do tourist kind of things.

As for taking pictures, I've done it and I've seen a lot of other people doing it. Like Ann T, I've been asked to take pictures of other people and do that too, not only in restaurants but in tourist places like the lighthouse at the end of the pier in Ludington or Bortell's which has parking for five cars and room inside for about 10 people, cars line the road since whatever travel magazine named them one of the best 10 fish shacks in America. It doesn't bother me and many families and friends meet each other at restaurants for lunch or dinner and want a family picture taken. That doesn't bother me at all. I do draw the line at taking pictures of the food at other tables where strangers are eating.

Phil's in Moss Landing is our 'local' and gets all sorts of publicity, including Food Network. But I rarely see people doing pictures of people unless it's a big party celebration and they always take those pictures of the people around the table, not posed. But I often see travelers taking pictures of their meals, but I've not noticed flashes, and most people are using their phones, so it's pretty unobtrusive.

I see less of it now than a couple of years ago, so I suspect that it has run the course. I hope.

I think the key word here is "conspicuously" snapping a photo of their meal. I agree that it shouldn't be a "Lights! Camera! Action!" operation but I do not see anything wrong at all with a discreet iPhone snap, no flash, of hubby's and my plates.

Peppi, I'm surprised you feel so strongly about photos being taken in restaurants or at the dining table. I seem to remember pictures of you and other Cooking forum members taken in restaurants and at your home or maybe it was Sherry's.

It must be difficult living in a city that is a tourist attraction. And I am sure the local government would not do anything about it if you complain because the tourists do bring in the money. Tourists = money = better infrastructure = better quality of life for the locals. Except of course when the tourists show up.

It's one of those pick your battles kind of a thing.

I have never noticed anyone taking photos of food. Maybe it is because I don't eat out often. Being in the hospitality business for years (airline/hotel/restaurant) dining out just does not appeal to me.

Most annoying to me is people on cell phones. For whatever reason people on cell phones talk much louder than they normally would. And they don't pay attention to anyone around them. Walking down the center of the skyways in Minneapolis they don't care that people are trying to get by them. Sitting next to me on the bus they don't care that I don't want to hear the argument with their boyfriend. But hats off to the bus driver who put one woman off the bus for doing just that!

Not having any experience with the problem of photo taking I will say - I don't object to a restaurant that chooses to ban it. And I applaud the ones that ban cell phones.

A friend sent me a photo of a stack of cell phones on a table. The caption" First one to reach for their phone picks up the tab." :-)

The article isn't about photos snapped at home of meals or dishes we have made ourselves. I occasionally snap photos of things but only when I am alone, not usually when I have guests at my table unless there is a reason to share with someone not present and that happens with foodies. And if it's dark I generally don't bother as I don't like my own flash photos of food. I don't have a good lighting set-up for taking photos at night as Ann and others do.

As I said, this is not something I have been bothered by where I live. No eatery here is so noteworthy that someone might brag about having eaten there and need visual proof. I see an occasional flash snap of a group but not snaps of plates. As stated above most people are using cell phones and are not conspicuous.

I have been annoyed by large and raucous parties positioned close to me in a dining room. Most restaurants are good about separating small intimate parties from large noisy ones but not always.

Discussions like this make us all more aware and considerate, I think.

I think I'm very discreet when I take photos at restaurants, and of course I never use a flash.

Below is a link to a video from a Cooking Forum meeting. In addition to my voice, you can also hear Lee, Gina, and others. I used a small digital video camera for this, and I think the restaurants likes the publicity. The restaurant is Izakaya style, which is the Japanese version of a Spanish Tapas Bar, and so it is mainly a bar or bar atmosphere with lots of small dishes that you can order. It's a fun place for a group but not so good for families with children. I don't think I offended anyone while taking this video. I was not the only person in this restaurant/bar using a camera!

I've never taken a picture of my food in a restaurant, nor have I seen anyone else do it.

The pictures that I post here, are just my plate, when just hubby and I are eating. Never when I'm having a dinner party. Hubby laughs when I do it, and sometimes asks if I'm going to take a picture. Like Peppi mentioned, I like my food hot as well, so my food is not "plated" or artfully arranged. Dump, click and post when I'm able to.

Lars, what a nice video! and an interesting place to eat, thanks for sharing.

When I go to special restaurants and because my location is for tourists, that is what I see and most if not all are taking pictures. I am very discreet and try not to bother anyone with my conversations or pictures and I also have taken a lot of pictures for strangers and I do it with a smile because of the memories for them.
We also like to document our meal because sometimes we write reviews for tripAdvisor and get the word out whether the food and the service were worth the visit to the restaurant or hotel.

Hi Teresa, thanks for the welcome! :) I'm a long time reader that rarely posts but I LOVE the "What's for Dinner" thread. When I'm short on ideas I come here to see what y'all are up to in the kitchen.

I haven't seen a post from her for a while but I used to love canarybird's photos of her meals out. Would hate to think she (and other posters like her) might feel self-conscious about restaurant photo posts...

Edited to add: Anyone here use the iPhone app "The Eatery"? You just sign up for an account, photograph your meals and other users vote if it's "Fit" or "Fat". Folks from around the world participate. Kind of fun to do while waiting at the doctor's office or such. :)

another linda - for whatever reason there have been a lot of new posters in the last couple of months. Some long time lurkers and some just newly registered. So many that Dcarch has started a new Valentine welcome thread - just for them.

And I thought I was his Valentine! ;-(

I attribute some of it to global warming! This deep freeze that has taken over most of the country has us holed up with our laptops on our laps in front of the TV. :-)

Hope to see more of you and the other new/returning members more often.

There are semi/discreet ways to record every waking moment of your lives. Cameras incorporated in eyeglasses or earpieces. Looxie is one device. Some people have tried doing so, as a sort of avantgarde experiment - what would it be like to have perfect photographic recall 24/7? Documentation of every remark, every glance? How much of what you see do you actually register?

I've tried a small version of this, with a small video camera on my bike helmet, recording my rides to and from work. I thought it would be a learning experience, to see the developing traffic threats that I didn't pick up on in real time. Results are so far inconclusive. Main insight is how differently a camera "sees" versus how we see. We have tremendous dynamic range, we can see deep shadow details and bright highlights that a camera sees as solid black and washed out white. We also have almost instant zooming and focus, or it seems that way anyhow. Compared to with the vibrancy of your own vision, a little video camera captures only a pale residue.

another linda - The Eatery app? Sounds interesting. Like Eileen I rarely take pictures of my food. Lots of my gardens though. I would not have much to contribute in the way of photos. But seeing pics of food from around the world would be fun.

However - the author of the linked article is probably not a fan of the app or the proliferation of food photos in general.

Wow Teresa - I hope you start posting photos of your gardens on the Hosta Forum! All these years of your talking about the hundreds of varieties, many of them very rare, and I have yet to see you post a single photo of anything.

Hello Alexa - Sorry you missed the photos several years back that I posted on the HF. Do you also remember my post about the pond tour and the people that visited the pond across the street? They saw me in my yard, complimented my garden and I gave them a quick tour. They came back a couple weeks later to take some of the more rare hostas. Thank God I have an astute stay-at-home Mom neighbor. The attempted theft is the reason I have turned down more than one publication to feature my gardens. And the reason I stopped posting photos at the HF and the reason I did not offer up my gardens for the 2010 National Hosta Tour.

Now the photos I take are for my own personal use - greeting cards, etc. If you want to see them or photos from Hideko Gowen's gardens please do send me an email. I am happy to share in private. I just no longer do it on a public forum for the obvious reason.

BTW - the statue you sent me of the Japanese princess has a prominent place in my garden. It is in between a Sorbet Peony and a large clump of Praying Hands hosta. And I usually have an edible Sunshine squash vine or Sweet Potato vines that wind through that part of the garden. It's really nice. Thanks again! Maybe I will post photos of that section of the garden and the dish I make with the edible plants this summer.

Apologies for going OT Eileen.

However On Topic and related to the surge of photos on the internet. PLEASE do be careful of photo posting on the internet - whether it be children, your home, garden, etc. Not everyone viewing them has your best interest at heart. You may trust the people you chat with here - but others are viewing and snagging your photos. In fact when Mustangs posted that adorable photo of GD Lily on the convo side a few weeks back - I almost emailed her to tell her to remove it.

I think most of us all have a sense of when and where it is appropriate to take pictures of your food. There are restaurants welcome it and there are those who do not allow it.

I seldom have a need to photograph food in a restaurant. Most restaurants have good plated food, but not great enough to pull out my camera. Those with great out-of-this-world plating/food/recipes, all there dishes are already professionally photographed on their WEB site, just go and down load them.

I agree with Teresa, do be careful about posting pictures. Make sure you turn off your camera's/cell phone's GPS stamp and click off Photobucket's location information option.

Also, Teresa, you are not off topic. To me Hosta is food, therefore you are talking about photographing food. ( Kidding!)

I am usually too distracted by "we'll behaved" children in restaurants to pay attention to food photographers.

The majority of the dining photos I've taken are when my friend Mary and I visit tea rooms. A few years ago, we decided that we wanted to visit one every month but as we have to expand our travel distances to explore new ones, it's now more like every two or three months.

We have an album on our computers and think it will be fun to sit back in our later years looking at the photos and talking about all the different places we visited and the adventures we have had together.

Ruthanna, I'm very happy that you take photos when you and your friend visit tea rooms. I really enjoy those pictures. There are a number of tea rooms in Victoria. Moe and I often go out for lunch in Victoria and I just never think about going for Tea. We need to do that.

I have fond memories of having High Tea in Victoria, and I wish I had taken pictures of the experiences. I can think of so many times when I wish photos had been taken, but I cannot think of any times now when I regret that photos were taken. I may have protested at the time, but afterwards I am grateful that the photos were taken.

When I lived in San Francisco, people frequently took pictures of me, either incidentally or on purpose, and I sometimes found myself in photos in art galleries, either as part of a crowd or as a participant in a particular event. Either way, I was unaware that I was being photographed at that time, for one reason or another. I didn't have a camera of my own at that time, or else I would have taken pictures of my work and friends. In 1992 I ended up in a calendar from a picture taken in 1975. I did protest when I found this out and had six copies of the calender sent to me for recompense.

We did take a few photos once at a restaurant. It was a special occasion for all of us. It was Wayne and my 30th wedding anniversary, Ariel had graduated from college and Kayla had just started college. We went to Gordon Ramsey at the London. Everything was perfection, the service, the food, the dining room, and most of all the company. No way were we not going to get a photo of that evening! We used our cellphones so no flash and we did it all at once. Over in a few seconds. This was a special occasion we wanted to remember with a photo. NancyLouise

I always find it amusing when someone comments about cell phones being used in public. I don't use my cell phone when I'm in a store or restaurant, but it doesn't bother me if someone else does.

What difference does it make if I hear two or more people chatting in a restaurant or standing in front of me in line at a grocery store, or if I hear one person chatting on their phone? I've often wondered if the person that complains about cell phone usage is annoyed because they can only hear one side of the conversation.

In my case, as I said above it's the volume that bothers me. Many people talk louder on their cell phones than they would normally. And apparently loud talking on cells must bother a lot of others too. There are signs posted on buses and the light rail here in Minnesota. They are titled Transit Courtesy. Number one on the list is cell phone usage - calls must be kept short. Failure to do so may result in being asked to get off the bus. As I indicated above I actually saw that happen one day. I pretty much take the same bus home everyday. One day the driver pulled the bus over right before we were getting out of downtown. He told the woman over the microphone he had given her several warnings in recent weeks. And then he told her to get off the bus. She refused. Then he announced to the rest of us that he was not going to start the bus until she got off. So now she has 50 people ticked off and staring at her. So she got off the bus.

There was an article on CNN a couple of weeks ago about colleges teaching etiquette classes. Top of the list - cell phone usage. :-)

Teresa, I understood that you have a problem with "loud" users of cell phones in public.

I'm just saying that cell phone users are not any more annoying to me than listening to two people carrying on a conversation. Whether sitting beside me on a bus, in line in a grocery store or sitting at a table next to me in a restaurant. I do not distinguish between the two. The only difference is that you only hear one side of the conversation.

I don't mind people talking on cell phones in public places, depending on the conversation they are having. I really didn't need to hear the woman in line in front of me at the grocery store talking about her toenail fungus. I also have a problem with people who are holding up lines of other people by telephone conversations. I have seen a cashier give a person a total and have them hold up a finger or reply "just a minute" and continue a conversation while everyone behind them waits. It even happened in line at Customs coming back from Mexico. The Customs Agent was not amused by being told (not asked, incidentally) to "wait" and pointed to the big sign that said "all cell phones must be turned off". Then the talker was pulled out of line to wait. I'm assuming she was there for some time.

I attended the funeral of a friend's mother a few weeks ago and a person in the back was having a cell phone conversation during the service. People also do this in movies and in church Texting is nearly as bad and intrusive in those situations. Just get up and leave the room, please.

So, I think it can be done unobtrusively, whether taking photos or having cell phone conversations, as long as everyone is mindful of other people and use common sense and good manners. Unfortunately, it sometimes is not the case.

I've never been aware of anyone
Taking pictures of food in a restaurant here.
But the idea of it seems very rude to me.

What DOES bother me a lot
Are screaming kids,
Or kids being allowed to roam around the place.
Or being seated near large groups
That are so boisterous
You can not have a conversation
With your dining partners.

And yes, public use of cell phones
is also very annoying.
Because people do seem to have a tendency
to talk quite loud.
And also to become completely unaware
and totally inconsiderate
Of what's going on around them.
Such as completely blocking an aisle
Or a display in a store,
Bumping into you with their cart,
Staying put in a line that is moving, etc.

And Teresa_mn is absolutely spot on
About the possible dangers of posting
Photos on a public forum!

Loud cell phone use DOES annoy me on occasion. I took the train into San Francisco I believe to meet ArabellaMiller. Amtrak has wifi so I usually take my laptop and additional drive with client files. I also use a Wacom tablet. I had everything set up at an empty table which are not easy found. For some reason people like to sleep at the tables. Sigh. So there I was all neatly settled in when a woman sat across the aisle and one row back. She carried on a loud cell phone conversation the entire trip in a voice JUST like Fran Drescher. I was so relieved when the trip was over.

But I am not one to talk at length on the phone. My ear starts to hurt and I need both of my hands to do things and I become impatient. I don't use a handsfree device as the sound is always murky to me. And I never try to talk on the train, it's just too noisy.

Back to photography, I wish I had more photos from my childhood. Now everyone's lives are ridiculously well-documented. Not so a few decades ago.

I guess I'm just cranky. I don't like cell phones in restaurants or stores either. Here's why...

1.) When you're in a restaurant with others conversation is usually muted and intimate. It blends with the droan of other tables doing the same thing. Not so with cell phone conversations. People do speak louder and get really loud when talking to their 14 y.o. son who hasn't done his homework or having a spat with their SO. I don't want to overhear who did what to whom.

2.) In small restaurants (like many/most in my area) the server has a small space to stand and take meal orders and give other info. People using cell phones do NOT hang up when the server comes to their table but rather leaves the waiter/waitress standing there with their b@tt in my face for long periods of time while we all listen to #1 above.

3.) Cell phones have ring tones that are the personal preference of the user as is the loudness setting. Often, those ring tones are inappropriate to the atmosphere of a restaurant and overly loud. With many people these days their cell phone will ring multiple times during the course of a meal.

I'm sure they are other reasons but that's enough to ban them, IMO. :)

We've been eating in restaurants three meals/day for three months (since Sandy). I've got LOTS of experience now with cell phones in restaurants and none of it's good.

Rusty - I just purchased a sign for my friend Loretta who is a vendor at the Farmer's Market. She sells soap that she makes. People bring their kids to the market and turn them loose. Loretta has a small guest bar size that catches the eye of many kids - probably because it's just their size. They knock soaps off the table which get dinged up. Then they have to go to the "seconds" bin. One woman came running over when I was picking up several soaps her kid knocked off the table. She said - sorry! Then she had the nerve to ask me if she could get a discount on the damaged soap!

The sign has a picture of a 1940's adorable little girl with a tea cup. It says "unattended children will be given expresso and a free kitten."

I think cell phone talkers are more annoying than people talking to a companion as well. Not only do people speak much louder in a cell phone, but there's also the annoying repetition when the other person can't hear what was said. I see/hear this ALL the time, and experience it myself when I'm on my iPhone though I try not to talk in public.

"What do you want for dinner?"
"I said, what do you want for dinner?"
"WHAT do you want for DINNER?!"
"DINNER!!!!!!"

They can't trust them to use good judgement. And then there is the problem of the players that are annoyed by the person on the phone. They all have clubs that can be used for hitting things other than the ball. :-)

Several years ago Tiger Woods played a tournament here in Minnesota at Hazeltine. They banned cameras. Apparently Tiger loses focus if he hears the clicking of hundreds of cameras.

While I was on my bike ride yesterday on a quiet side street a teenaged girl stepped off the curb into my path a few yards in front of me as she was texting. Didn't see me until I called out a caution. Scared both of us!

Earlier on in this thread Alexa wrote:
"I have yet to see you post a single photo of anything."

That came as a surprise as both Alexa and I were frequent visitors at the hosta forum for several years. I posted a number of photos. I will say Alexa posted many more photos than I did - and much better quality as Alexa is a much better photographer than I.

One year I started a game called the Hosta Santa. It was really fun. People were mailing other forum members gifts at random - hostas, seeds and other gardening related things. It was different than a swap. Here is a link to one of the threads about the hosta Santa. This garden statue was a gift I received from Alexa. I placed it on a plastic table on my deck in order to get a picture. The table is right outside a large living room window and I use the table as a feeder. I love to watch the birds, squirrels, racoons and possums come to have lunch. And because of the creatures the table attracts, I do have the occasional bald eagle come to feast - on the creatures that is.

The statue was promptly moved to a spot in the garden between a Sorbet peony and a large clump of Hosta Praying Hands.

The other night we were out to dinner and suddenly my wife pulled out her phone and started snapping pictures - with flash. I was mortified, immediately thinking of this thread (or at least what this thread was intended to be about, LOL) so I quickly grabbed the phone out of her hands and shut off the flash. As I was doing that, I noticed there was a lot more flashes going off all around the restaurant and no one seemed to care.

We were at a large, always loud, always busy Italian restaurant that a lot of people go to for various celebrations so I guess it's what you are to expect. Don't like it, don't go. Same thing with tourist traps; a lot of tourists go there and tourists take pictures. Expect it, it's what they do.

I think the key is to have some manners and know where you're going. Just like you can expect me not to take my kids to a small, quiet, intimate, high-end restaurant and ruin your experience, I expect you not to make a spectacle of yourself standing on a chair next to me snapping pictures.

That said, I cannot imagine being upset by someone quietly and discretely taking a picture of their meal - without flash - in any restaurant setting.

Wow Teresa, you are a hosta queen!!!! All I know, is I love the dark green, huge-leaved hostas. They are apparently more resistant to slugs. The delicate, curly, variegated leaves don't do a thing for me. When I grew hostas, I cut the flowers off because it's all about the leaves for me.

Out here in the SF Bay Area it is a HUGE thing to take photos of your food. Except for the cheapest greasy spoons, I'm almost never in a restaurant where I don't see someone snapping photos with their cell phones. Since we go out a lot (3-4x/week) at all price levels, it is far from unusual. The more the meal costs, the more flashes are going off, every night.

Taking food photos too often goes way beyond the "you two pose together so I can get a shot". People get up from their seats, walk around the table, not even noticing that they are in the way of the waitstaff.

The tendency of most restaurateurs to cram in as many tables as possible doesn't help, either. Speaking as a customer, it is one thing to have a small cellphone flash go off. It is another thing entirely for someone to pull out a full-sized digital SLR and start taking flash pictures 2' away from you as you are trying to dine. Nothing like looking up at the wrong moment and getting a massive flash in your eyes as a stranger angles to get a shot of his 2" square of sea bass.

Check the restaurant reviews on Yelp and you will find endless shots of food, often the same dishes, posted by various people. I have not yet seen the "stand on a chair" diner but I'm sure I will eventually!

I don't mind low-key picture taking. I do it myself, and find it useful to see photos of food before deciding if I want to try a new place (of which there are thousands, where we live).

But modern life shows us that there are too many people who go over the line and make it uncomfortable/unpleasant for others, and they simply don't care. If you as a restaurateur want to stop them, then you pretty much have to stop everyone from taking photos. When you get to the high-end restaurants, they don't usually have the same dishes anyway from week to week (sometimes day to day), so any photo is just a general representation of what the food will be like. In that case, a short slideshow on the restaurant's website more than suffices, and more restaurateurs should do that, IMHO.

Oh, I had one for my car. It was a mobile phone in a carrying case. The numbers were on the back of the phone which was corded to the case. It could be taken from car to car, vs, the ones that were installed directly in the car at the time.

Dcarch when I see an older movie where a detective is "indiscreetly" talking on this monster phone, on the street corner you have to bust out in laughter.

Manners can be applied in all situations, including cell phone use, and that is my outtake. Every time cell phones are mentioned, insert crying baby or extremely little or inappropriate clothing- something most people wouldn't do, but they will whip out that phone. Nah, it's already in their hand or sitting next to the plate.

I am not nostalgic, I don't yearn for earlier times but I do want a continuance of manners!

On a side note, this has made me Google the definition of manners and etiquette. Quite interesting, as it has more to do with Current social expectancies than previous ones, so perhaps, I am indeed nostalgic for a time when manners included considering the people around us and not ourselves first.

I'm pretty much on the fence, in regards to cameras going off around me, when eating out.

However, what I do find annoying, are folks who feel compelled to share their personal lives and health issues with total strangers.
Recently, at a restaurant, an older gentleman, unabashedly shared his colonoscopy experience with his family, and the rest of us, unwitting participants.

Needless to say, by the time it was all over, I had learned so much about the guy that (in some parts of Alabama) we could've been legally married.